Artistic performance celebrating Joan of Arc and her namesake chapel set for April 28-30

April 12, 2017

MILWAUKEE — "Hearken to my Voice," a multi-disciplinary artistic performance commemorating the life of St. Joan of Arc and the chapel that bears her name on Marquette University's campus will be held April 28-30.

The performances on Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29, will begin at 5:30 p.m. The performance on Sunday, April 30, will begin at 1 p.m.

The performances will be held outside near the iconic St. Joan of Arc Chapel on Marquette's campus.

The show will feature five stations for audience members to take in dance, choral, theatrical and spoken word performances. Marquette students from dance, the theatre senior capstone course, costume technology course and English capstone courses will perform along with the Marquette Chamber Choir.

The chime strike by the carillon at Marquette University was changed earlier in the year to play "Joan of Arc," written by Marquette carillonneur Mark Konewko. The bells will chime at the beginning of each segment as the audience moves to each station.

In addition, special arrangements of tulips surrounding the chapel and around campus will bloom for the event in purple for iron/strength, red for fire/passion and white for breath/voice.

The event was funded by the Helen Way Klingler Teaching Enhancement Grant.

The performances are free and open to the public. Helfaer Theatre will serve as the rain site for the performances.

About the St. Joan of Arc Chapel

The chapel sits at the heart of Marquette's campus. By far the oldest structure in Milwaukee, the gothic structure dates to the early 15th century. It was built around 1420 in the village of Chasse in the Rhone Valley, southeast of Lyon, France, and for 500 years was called St. Martin de Seysseul in honor of the young French saint. Gertrude Hill Gavin purchased the structure in the 1920s, had it dismantled and moved to her property on Long Island, New York, renaming it the St. Joan of Arc Chapel in the process. In 1962, Gavin sold it to Marc Rojtman, who had been president of J.I. Case, and his wife, Lillian. The couple offered the chapel to Marquette, and it was moved to the Milwaukee campus, opening in 1966.

About St. Joan of Arc (1412-31)

A French heroine of the Hundred Years War, she was captured, convicted of heresy and burned at the stake at the age of 19. Posthumously retried and vindicated, she was canonized in 1920 and is the patron saint of France.